The invention relates generally to navigation and, more specifically, to navigation based on observed route deviations by local drivers.
Increasingly, global positioning systems (GPSs), handheld devices, and online map routing services provide mechanisms to navigate from one point to another by calculating paths based on information derived from roadway maps. These routing services typically have added features to automatically calculate the type of directions desired. For example, added features may allow an operator to specify routing objectives such as: shortest distance (using an algorithm to determine the shortest distance from one point to the next); least amount of travel time (using an algorithm to determine the shortest distance based on the road's speed limit and distance, and calculating the resulting driving time); least use of freeways; least use of energy (gasoline and/or electricity); and least use of toll roads.
While the routing system provides some routing objectives, there may be features of certain roads that drivers would like to avoid but said features are not typically shared through traditional routing systems. For example, a driver may wish to avoid a route in which the sunrise or sunset is right in the driver's field of view, a route that overlaps with a school bus route, a route with unexpected traffic due to a local event, recent road construction in progress, or frequent slow moving vehicles.